The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld No. XIV:::::::The Unknown

I saved the best for last. Unless I come up with some juicy press briefings, this is the last Rumsfeld poem. This poem is so relevant to what I do for a living (one part of which involves investigating the unknown) that it is the first page in my manual. If you work for me, it's required reading.




The Unknown

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.

We also know
There are known unknowns.

That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
---o0o---

Department of Defense news briefing Feb. 12, 2002

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XIII:::::::::It Hasn't Happened

It Hasn't Happened

You're going to be told lots of things
You get told things every day that don't happen
It doesn't seem to bother people, they don't—
It's printed in the press

The world thinks all these things happen
They never happened
Everyone's so eager to get the story
Before in fact the story's there

That the world is constantly being fed
Things that haven't happened.
All I can tell you is
It hasn't happened

It's going to happen
---o0o---

Department of Defense briefing Feb. 28, 2003

Google Blog Search Is In Beta

As Google continues to roll out more services, they have now unleased a Blog Search tool.

As Google says

"Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else, Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice."

They seem to do a good job of crawling the blog world. Typing in my name (of course the most important test!) brought up 350 references to this blog. I checked on the blogs of some people I know-- and found lots of results--Newsquirt, El Snoozo, Zen Lawncare, Aunty Sassie's Nothing Witty Left blog. A longer established blog like Dr. Clarke-Willson's Random Blts brought up several hundred hits. My son Del's blog had fifty or so hits. A search for Hira Bluestone's blog (Better Red Than Dead) told me there are at least four other blogs with the same name! Typing in Sarvananda Bluestone's first name led me to his hundreds of haiku, his blogspot blog, and a blogger that referenced his (wonderful) book on How To Read Signs And Omens.

There are several ways to get there: blogsearch.google.com brings up a standard Google interface; search.blogger.com brings up a blogger stype interface. Click on the title of this post for the Google style version.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XII:::::::::The Pause

The Pause

Things will not be
Necessarily continuous

The fact that they are
Something other than

Perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized

As a pause
There will be some things

That people will see
There will be some things

That people won't see
And life goes on
---o0o---

Department of Defense news briefing Oct. 12, 2001

Lajas, Puerto Rico To Build UFO Landing Strip

UFO landing strip gets mayor's support

September 28, 2005. LAJAS, Puerto Rico (AP) - People in this sleepy hamlet are so sure they have been receiving other-worldly visitors, they want to build a UFO landing strip to welcome them. Click here to read the full story on CNN.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld XI:::::::::Existence, Evidence, Absence

Existence, Evidence, Absence

There's another way to phrase that
And that is that the absence of evidence
Is not the evidence of absence.

It is basically saying the same thing
In a different way
Simply because you do not have evidence

That something does exist
Does not mean that you have evidence
That it doesn't exist
---o0o---

Ex-Majority Leader Tom Delay Caught With His Pants Down Around His Ankles

A Texas grand jury charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates today with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. DeLay, 58, is accused of a criminal conspiracy along with his henchmen for cooking up an elaborate but twisted scheme to hide corporate contributions.

The House of Representative rules states that indicted members of the house leadership must resign from their office (but not Congress itself). DeLay resigned this morning. I suspect further wrongdoing will emerge as people are given subpoenas and immunity. The full story is all over the usual news sources and blogs...

All This Is That Editorial Opinion:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
---o0o---

School Of Rock - Geezer Edition (Four Days: $8,500)

click image to enlarge

This article is from today's Fox 411 column by By Roger Friedman. I didn't know this camp was real; I always thought it was just a funny episode of The Simpsons.

Daltrey Joins Rock Fantasy Camp

"David Fishof's annual Rock Fantasy Camp has just snared its most famous counselor yet: The Who's Roger Daltrey.

Daltrey will join Dickey Betts, Mickey Thomas, Neil Schuon, the entirety of Cheap Trick and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead next February as they instruct high-paying campers in becoming rock and roll stars.

The price for the four-day weekend, scheduled Feb. 16-20, 2006, is $8,499.

I don't know if that includes bug juice or panty raids, but it does have its own version of a color war: a battle of the bands at the House of Blues in Los Angeles at the end of the weekend.

Personally, I'm going to audit the class where Daltrey shows you to how lasso a microphone. "

---o0o---

Painting: The Balance Of Power Tilts

<---Click painting to enlarge--->

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld X:::::::::Where Is Osama bin Laden?

The great part of Rummy's circumlocution here is that he could be referring to anyone, dead or living, who has ever lived on earth. /jb



Where is Osama bin Laden?

We do know of certain knowledge
That he
Is either in Afghanistan
Or in some other country
Or dead.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld IX::::::Accuracy

Accuracy

If I said yes
That would then suggest
That that might be the only place
Where it might be done
Which would not be accurate--
Necessarily accurate.

It might also not be inaccurate
but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VIII::::::Litany: What I Don't Do

Litany: What I Don't Do

I don't do quagmires.
I don't do diplomacy.
I don't do foreign policy.
I don't do predictions.
I don't do numbers.
I don't do book reviews.
---o0o---

[each line is from a different press briefing)

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VII::::::What I Think

What I think

I believe
What I said yesterday

I don't know
What I said,

But I know
What I think and--

Well, I assume
It's what I said.
---o0o---

[A new one, from an undated quote from a briefing]

The Poetry of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld VI:::::Predicting The Future

Predicting The Future

I would not say that the future
Is necessarily less predictable
Than the past.

I think the past
Was not predictable
When it started.
---o0o---

The Poetry Of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Part V:::::A Confession

It's become a mania, and I am starting to make my own Rummy poems from briefings and press conferences..which I am now mixing in with the already known Rummy poems.


A Confession

Once in a while,
I'm standing here
Doing something

And I think

What in the world
Am I doing here?

It's a big surprise.
---o0o---

(Interview with the New York Times May 16, 2001)